How To Make Ice Cream Summer is almost here and and with the heat comes our insatiable urge to seek out cold treats. What better cold treat than ice cream? When I go to the local scoop shops or other scoop shops when travelling (and I mean the ones where the ice cream...

The most annoying part of cooking pasta is having it boil in the saucepan. only to have it clump up into a ball after you drain the water out - completely stuck together. But pasta doesn't always have to come out that way, and there's a simple trick for making pasta...

Today on The Culinary Exchange, we're back to the basics - of cutting, that is. Why? Because knowing how to properly cut your ingredients is an important part of improving your skills in the kitchen. And also, it'll impress your significant other because being handy...

Mmmm, leeks - tasty to cook as a side dish and absolutely delicious as an addition to soups, salads, and as a garnish on lots of other types of dishes. Leeks are part of the onion family, and in fact, many people consider leeks to be the gourmet version of the onion....

Chicken, pork chops, steak, and fish can get a little old - even when you're swapping them out regularly for dinner ideas. If you've run out of ideas for dinner meats, you only need to venture as far as duck to get something that's delicious, easy to cook, and...

Sometimes all you need is a great, big juicy piece of pork. And what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think a pork dinner? Pork chops, of course! And once you learn how to prep and cook pork chops, you'll have a solid dinner standby that's delicious and...

Steamed Tofu and Vegetables I don't care what anyone says. I like tofu. I always have. I think it is simply because I have had tofu that was prepared well - often crispy, but always well seasoned and full of flavor. Whether it be tofu and green peppercorn sauce or...

Often times innovation is confused with invention. They are actually quite different things. Invention is creating something that did not exist before and innovation is typically the re-invention of something that has been around for quite some time. Re-invention can...

How To Cook Scallops Scallops - what a delight! The big sea scallops are the ones I like best. They are a bit of an indulgence, but if I see them on sale at the fish mongers, I buy them. These sweet and juicy bivalves are fantastic sautéed in just a bit of butter, but...

Beef and Red Wine Risotto I love a good risotto. What I often find surprising when I go out for risotto is that it seems like you can only get mushroom risotto. Don’t get me wrong, I like mushroom risotto, but there is so much more that can be done with it. For...

How To Make Vegetable Dip Historically, the family's favorite dip came from a pack of onion soup and a pound of sour cream. Slather that onion dip on to a ruffled or wavy potato chip, maybe a carrot stick, and you were on the path to salty, deliciousness. That is...

How To Cut Butter Into Flour There is much to be said about tender, flaky baked goods. Nobody likes a heavy biscuit or a bad soda bread. One of the foundation techniques to achieve baking greatness is to understand the cutting of butter into flour. Even making...

How To Make Pumpkin Spice Toffee As one ages, one asks important questions in their lives. I think this happens a lot in autumn. The biggest introspective moments come when we ask what else in the world can be flavored with pumpkin spice? I know you agree with me when...

How To Make Applesauce Fall is coming! What better time to learn how to make applesauce? Our grocery stores and farmers markets will soon be brimming with all kinds of fun apples that will make great applesauces. And since our eating will likely get a bit more hearty,...

How To Make Custard Sauce It is not difficult to take a dish to the next level. A good sauce usually does the trick. This goes for dessert, too. A piece of apple pie is nice, but it is extra nice when you make custard sauce to go with it! A custard sauce, aka creme...

How To Make A Bluebery Fool When I think about summer desserts that involve very little cooking, the fool comes to mind. Yep - the fool. blueberry fool, that is. A blueberry fool is simply a delicious blueberry compote swirled with rich cream. It is such a...

To Make Blackberry Ice Cream As a kid, on hot summer days in the South I thought of ice cream. I thought of homemade ice cream, churned in a very loud ice cream churn although we didn't own a very loud ice cream churn. In fact, we never had a churn at all. We had...

My wife is a bit stubborn about her ice cream. After many a summer’s dinner we would troop to the ice cream parlor in search of some cool deliciousness. My son would order his 2 scoops (even though would beg him to just get one) and I would do the same. When it came time for my wife to order she would decline. Why? No mint chip ice cream. She won’t budge to other flavors. It is mint chip or bust. I am fair-weather fan of mint chip ice cream, but I am not the biggest fan of the green color and undersized chips. So, as with so many things in the food world, if you want it right you make it yourself. Skip the green, make mint chocolate ice cream that with big mint and chocolate impact.

How To Make Custard Style Ice Cream To make custard style ice cream is to make the best ice cream. This is the French chef coming out in me. No, I usually don't want to take the more difficult route in the kitchen. Plus, it seems to me that all the extra work to make...

How To Make Simple Syrup This post is called How To Make Simple Syrup, but it could also be called How To Make Flavored Syrups, too. Either way, the important thing to note is that there are a number of items that sing when a splash of simple syrup or flavored syrup...

How To Make Pimento Cheese Ahhh, pimento cheese. The taste of the south that was originally from the north. Who cares! When I make pimento cheese, I am taken back to my childhood in the south when never once did I eat or make pimento cheese. I remember a pimento...

FYI...This root beer post contains affiliate links for products I like. This means that if you click on a product link on this page, and then purchase the product, The Culinary Exchange will make a small amount of money from your purchase. I ONLY link to products that...

FYI...This cold brew coffee post contains affiliate links for products I like. This means that if you click on a product link on this page, and then purchase the product, The Culinary Exchange will make a small amount of money from your purchase. I ONLY link to...

How To Make Drop Biscuits It seems to me that it is less about how to make drop biscuits than why make drop biscuits. After thinking about it, it seems to come down to convenience. To make drop biscuits is to make less mess and still create a delicious, tender...

A Few Cold Soups For Summer Come on! Say it out loud - Cold Soups For Summer! Cold soups have Summer written all over them. When made of vegetables, cold soups are a perfect appetizer or even light meal. They can be made so many ways with so many vegetables that...

How To Make Banana Bread Well, here it is. The obligatory, but delicious nonetheless, how to make banana bread post. Why? There is only one reason for seeking out a "how to make banana bread post" - there are bananas on the counter that have gone ripe very quickly....

How To Make Cloud Eggs There are a number of ways to make eggs. The newest oldest way to make them is to make cloud eggs. To make cloud eggs is to take a page from the old school soufflé omelette, but stop just short of folding the yolks into the whipped whites...

How To Make Coffee Cake I ask you - Is a coffee break complete without coffee cake? I say no. More often then not, I like the coffee, but I think we should make coffee cake more central to the whole coffee break experience. When I say coffee cake, I mean the kind with...

How To Roast Fennel I love to roast vegetables. Eggplant, broccoli, even Brussels sprouts are delicious roasted. One vegetable that I don't think we roast enough is fennel. These delicious bulbs full of anise flavor roast up so tender and sweet you don't want to miss...

How To Make Pea Salad I like peas! I especially like them when they are fresh, right out of the shell - so sweet. Most of our experience with peas seems to be canned or frozen. I get that. Peas are sort of hard work. It takes a lot of shelling to get lots of peas....

How To Make Waffles I am a little undecided when I make waffles - more cakey or more crispy. When I think of the frozen waffles I was raised on, it never really struck me as clear if these were supposed to be crispy or not. It was only clear from the commercials that...

How To Roast Sweet Potatoes There is a lot you can do with a sweet potato, but I really like to roast sweet potatoes. Why we seem to only think about eating them when Thanksgiving rolls around is beyond me. You would think we would make a variety of excuses to eat...

An Easy Chocolate Waffles Recipe In my house, breakfast for dinner is a thing. I like breakfast for dinner - pancakes, waffles, eggs, shakshuka. Normally, though, I try and keep the breakfast more savory than sweet. I am only mildly embarrassed to say that I have made...

How To Make Israeli Salad To make Israeli salad is to make the easiest salad in the world. Really! I don't think it can get much easier. A few fresh, chopped vegetables with a spritz of lemon juice and olive oil and you are done. How To Make Israeli Salad - the...

How To Make Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Pecorino There are many ways to make Brussels Sprouts. Pretty much anything is possible from roasting the sprouts to shaving them thin and making a Brussels Sprout slaw. My favorite way to make Brussels sprouts is to...

How To Make Rice Pudding When I make rice pudding, as the vanilla and cinnamon aroma wafts around, I can't help but think how comforting this dish is. The beauty of rice pudding is that it is simple to make. There is no magic to bringing this classic comfort food to...

A Love For Irish Soda Bread Of all the things I like about St. Patrick's Day, I like Irish Soda Bread the best. The corned beef and cabbage is fine. The Guinness Ale is fine, too. But nothing beats a thick slice of freshly baked soda bread slathered with a fat layer...

Make Chocolate Pudding and Make Smiles Abe Lincoln once wrote - Make Chocolate Pudding and Make Smiles! He said it in his House Divided Speech about those who like vanilla and those who like chocolate. It was an unbelievable speech for many historic reasons, but it...

How To Make Chocolate Bread Depending on who you are, you may not want to know how to make chocolate bread. It can be dangerous! I know how to make chocolate bread and weekly I put my pretty waistline in danger. Chocolate bread is proof that chocolate can go anywhere....

How To Make Crackers I know how to make crackers. You might know how to make crackers, too. It might be an important skill to know, but I am not sure. In fact, I have pondered many times why anyone would want to make crackers given that the grocery stores - organic,...

How To Make Pretzels I like knowing how to make pretzels because hot pretzels are a wonder to behold. Once, when I was visiting Germany I was a served a fresh hot pretzel that was so big and salty I thought I was in carbohydrate heaven. To wash that pretzel down with...

Fingerling potatoes aren't as commonplace as say those giant brown baking potatoes or small little red potatoes that work so well in the roasting pan. But, they're different, they're fun, and they're super easy to cook with. The other big bonus is that they're kind of...

How To Make A Posset WTF is a posset? Good question! And it is important to know the answer to this question because knowing how to make a posset is a good thing. How to make a posset isn't exactly need to know, but it is a nice to know for those "I need an easy...

How To Make Scrambled Eggs and Omelettes If there is a more wondrous ingredient than eggs, I am not sure what it is. Sure, there are so many fancy things you can do with eggs, like make egg pies or meringues, but the simplest egg dishes are the ones that are truly...

If you've ever written off a parsnip you saw at the grocery store because you weren't sure what you were in for, let us do you a favor: the next time you see one, buy it. Parsnips are a weird, wiry little root vegetable that don't look like much. But once you bite...

Beef and Red Wine Risotto I love a good risotto. What I often find surprising when I go out for risotto is that it seems like you can only get mushroom risotto. Don’t get me wrong, I like mushroom risotto, but there is so much more that can be done with it. For...

Ah, citrus fruits. When the weather gets cold and ugly after the holidays, you're the one thing that can really perk up a drab day. But citrus isn't just great to eat (even though it does make a great midday snack or taste great as a breakfast side), it's also...

It's a new year, so it's a new opportunity to try new foods and eat healthy (at least until the next holiday season, right?) This year, my resolution is to master a different food each month. We're talking learn everything to know about how to cook a certain food;...

Throwing a last-minute fete to send off 2016 with a bang? If so, you'll need to do more than just provide a couple bottles of champagne. Some quick finger foods will keep guests happy and content, and make your party a bigger success. So what do you do in a snap when...

Apple Roses For Christmas Brunch When it comes to throwing a Christmas Brunch, or any brunch for that matter, having something that looks complicated to make, but was really simple to make really does help put a shine on that brunch spread. The dish I speak of is...

A Christmas Brunch Tomato Tart When I entertain, I always feel like I could use a very simple recipe for a savory tart. When I consider putting together a Christmas brunch, this doesn't change. It is the simple part that can often be lost. Making the crust alone can...

Spritz Cookies - Amazing Food Tech There is a lot of tech in the food game. Everything from laser etching of pies to printing your own picture on your latte foam, not to mention all that 3D printing stuff. But the best tech ever to hit the food arena is the spritz...

Egg Recipes For Christmas Brunch You can find many egg recipes for Christmas brunch that are easy to make, can be made ahead and that are delicious. It is not compulsory that a brunch spread have eggs, but there is so much you can do with eggs that, veganism and...

The Ancient Romans knew what they were doing. Even in the early days of the empire, those guys were mixing and heating eggs and milk creating a basic version of the treat we know as "custard". In the Middle Ages, they built on that recipe and added it into a pie...

There's no real American tradition when it comes to Christmas dinner entrees. Some people opt for a roast turkey; some people choose a Christmas ham; and some people go the seafood route with Dungeness crab. But this year, buck all of those trends to try something a...

Thanksgiving is over, but that doesn't mean you still don't have a ton of leftovers in the fridge. If you're like us, then you've got a mountain of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce that you don't know what to do with. Until now. These 3 quick leftover turkey...

Brioche Doughnuts Like many, I enjoy a good doughnut. I especially love a good brioche doughnut. The tender, buttery doughnut made with brioche dough is the perfect complement to just about any filling. A good jelly filling is nice. A pastry cream does fine. But when...

This Thanksgiving, it's time to get creative. And we mean finding more interesting ways to whip up your favorite Fall vegetables - namely, butternut squash. Why butternut squash? Well for starters, it's almost always a traditional staple on the Thanksgiving dinner...

Easy Puff Pastry Ideas Puff pastry is the greatest pastry dough that nobody wants to make. I get that. Easy puff pastry ideas quickly become more complicated when you have to make the pastry. It is not that it is difficult, it just takes a bit of time. I think...

Last year, we talked about what you can do with leftover pumpkin that you might have laying around the house after Halloween or Thanksgiving. But this year, we really want to emphasize how versatile the pumpkin really is. In fact, almost every single part of the...

We all know what Thanksgiving is about - spending time with friends and family; taking some much-deserved time off from work; and stuffing yourself silly. But this year, instead of opting for the time honored tradition of whipping up a pumpkin pie - or if you're from...

There's nothing worse at Thanksgiving dinner than biting into a dry piece of turkey after a long day of cooking a holiday meal for your family and friends. Luckily, there are ways to mitigate this cooking issue by planning ahead and utilizing these helpful tips below....

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means planning travel; stocking up on holiday food shopping; and hopefully enjoying some well-deserved quality time with friends, family, and loved ones. Unfortunately, when you mix in the stress of the holidays with the...

Ah fartons and horchata - the perfect summer snack? Maybe. But we think it's more. In fact, fartons and horchata might just be the next big holiday snack - even outpacking eggnog and Christmas cookies as the traditional Christmas combo. We recently wrote about...

Horchata is an interesting beverage - sort of similar in style to a vanilla milkshake or another dessert type drink. It's a popular Spanish drink that's also enjoyed in Central and South America. The ingredients range from country to country, as each locale likes to...

Keeping in step with our dessert theme, we're going to talk about an often overlooked treat these days - whoopie pies! The whoopie pies goes back to the days of the Pennsylvania Dutch and unlike a lot of classic desserts, this one is uniquely American. While it's hard...

If you couldn't tell, we've been on a pretty serious pastry kick as of late here at The Culinary Exchange. There's just something about crisp, Fall weather that makes you want to hang out in the kitchen all day, baking and drinking hot cider. Mmm. That's the life....

Ah, pie. Such a great treat to be able to whip up in a fly whenever you have a craving for something sweet. And the best part is that most of the time, you have everything you need stored in your cupboard and fridge for making a pie. Except for one thing - and that's...

If you grew up in the Southern US, you're almost definitely aware of the popular snack food "pimento cheese". Pimento cheese, which is commonly and lovingly referred to as the "caviar of the South" is a cheese spread that's made from mixing or processing sharp cheddar...

Crumpets are a big deal in the UK, and if you're not from there, you may not know exactly what a crumpet is. And you wouldn't be alone, since most people outside of England aren't so familiar with this trendy little breakfast food. In fact, many people confuse the...

Cooking on campus can be tricky. Not only are most students out, living on their own for the first time in their life. But they're also the years when you have to learn how to cook for yourself (or else risk spend all of your money dining out or running up the tab on...

Baked Eggs In Spinach There are a lot of ways to cook eggs. From poaching to omelettes and, of course plain old over-easy. My favorite egg dishes are those where eggs are "submerged" in some other ingredients and cooked together so the deliciousness of eggs is brought...

If you've been running to your local grocery store every time you run out of vinaigrette, you're doing it wrong! Making a vinaigrette at home is tastier and cheaper than buying it at the store. And if you make it at home, you'll never run out, since the ingredients...

Cherries jubilee might well be the most perfect dessert. Why? Because if there's two things that a dessert should always be, it's: rich in taste and simple to make. And cherries jubilee fits the bill. We've talked about cherries jubilee before when we wrote about...

Zucchini is a versatile and healthy food that sometimes gets overlooked for more splashy veggies like yellow squash or eggplant. But in reality, there's a lot you can do with zucchini that makes it a strong contender for one of those vegetables you should always have...

If you thought fruit desserts were best left for summertime, you're missing out on some great sweets that can work around all seasons. Dessert time doesn't have to end with apple pie closing out the summer season. Instead, try some of these classic fruit desserts that...

Overnight oats - it sounds like you're planning to hand roll kernels to make your own oats, but that's not actually what overnight oats are. Nope, overnight oats are actually a lot easier to make and are actually a really fun way to shake up breakfast or weekend...

What is a jujube? If you find yourself scratching your head and vaguely remembering your last trip to the movie theatre, you're probably like the rest of us. Jujube candies are fruit flavored gummy things that come in a box and are almost always found at the cinema....

If you're like many people, you may have never heard of the root vegetable celeriac. Pronounced "sell-air-ee-ack", this tasty root vegetable is sometimes compared to turnips or butternut squash. Although, it's taste is a little more comparable to something like...

It's officially back to school time for the kids, and that means waking up early and packing those all too familiar school lunches. If anything can become boring and monotonous, it's the dreaded school lunch consisting of the same sandwich meat, a slice or two of...

Mmm... nothing says weekend breakfast like homemade fried pastry. Forget about counting calories for a minute and let yourself think about the warm melt-in-your-mouth goodness that comes from just made donuts. And now think about how great it would be if you could...

As much as it pains us to say, summer is nearly officially over, which means it's time to go into party planning mode. Fall is a great time to enjoy the changing seasons and start cozying up to a warm fire with books and blankets in tow, but it's also the busiest...

Sometimes, at the Culinary Exchange, we get a little hankering for something sweet. And when we do, we go through our mental rolodex of recipes and find something that fits the bill. Tonight, that something sweet is chocolate mousse. For some reason, chocolate mousse...

If you were given a choice between a delicious dulce de leche and a sweet caramel sauce, what would you do? Well, obviously, you'd eat them both - but would you know which is which? If you're not intimately familiar with how both dulce de leche and caramel are made,...

A cheese blintz is really just a fancy word for a crepe stuffed with ricotta or another type of sweet cheese and lightly fried or baked. Although don't take it's basic explanation as an indicator that this simple dish is bland. It's quite the opposite and has been a...

You might think that cooking fish in foil is something relegated to the great outdoors. Something that you do on camping trips - or at the very least something to be done on a grill. But really, cooking fish in foil is a great way to cook fish overall. And it provides...

French cuisine has given us many things, pot au feu, bouillabaisse, ratatouille, mussels, and crepes. But the French have also given us another solid standby that you probably don't think about all that much: quiche. Alright, so technically the English were making...

Fruit soup: it's not a phrase that seems to mesh well together, but in some parts of the world, fruit soup is about as summer as bar-b-que and apple pie. In fact, in Sweden it's a very common summer staple that includes fruits like blueberries, raspberries, and...

Have you ever made your own BBQ sauce? If you're like me, then it's one of those things that you almost never think about beforehand. Instead, popping over to your local grocery store in a pinch to pick up some already made sauce. But BBQ sauce is actually really...

We get hundreds of kitchen questions every month from readers who aren't sure why their angel food cake wilted in the oven or what kinds of sugar substitutions you can use in a bind, but recently we've been on an egg kick (you've probably noticed, given the sheer...

Here at the Culinary Exchange, we think that understanding the basics of cooking are incredibly important and help lay a solid foundation for being confident in the kitchen. This means understanding how to cook the most basic and commonly used ingredients, like eggs....

If pancakes are a staple weekend treat in your home, you should try to mix it up a little by adding something new and a little different to the repertoire. Crepes are a common dish in Europe, originating in France and spreading in popularity to places as far as Russia...

Anyone who tells you that baking is just like cooking obviously hasn't sat by watching their angel food cake sag lifelessly after taking it out of the oven, wondering where they went wrong. No, baking requires much more precision and is way more similar to chemistry...

Everyone knows about ground beef and what you can do with it. It's possibly the most versatile type of meat you can cook with. You can shape it into burgers; you can mix it into a tomato sauce and toss in some pasta; you can combine it with rice pilaf for a simple...

Part herb and part vegetable, fennel is a pretty often under-utilized piece of produce in the carrot family. The bulbs grow underground (which is the vegetable part) while the green stems on top sprout festive tiny yellow flowers that have a taste that's familiar to...

You don't have to be in Belgium to appreciate a hearty waffle for breakfast. In fact, belgian waffles are a staple that should be on every home chef's repertoire. A belgian waffle is simple and delicious, and it provides a great base to get really creative (belgian...

If there were one perfect summer drink that we had to choose during the summer months, we'd have to choose sangria. It's fruity, it'll cool you off on a hot summer day, and it'll do a pretty good job of getting you buzzed. What more could you ask for? Almost all of us...

If you really want to throw a wine lover into a tizzy, just ask them the following question: "should red wine be chilled?" You're almost certain to get at least one person who swears up and down that chilling red wine is an unforgivable sin. But that person is wrong....

Knowing how to make french toast is like knowing how to scramble an egg - you just gotta know how to do it. It becomes even more important if you have kids because french toast is just one of those quintessential Saturday morning meals that you make while the kids are...

If you've never participated in a summer clambake (the likes of which are hugely popular in the Northeast region of the US), then you're really missing out. Clams are incredibly easy to cook (they turn out delicious after steaming quickly) and you can serve them in...

Fondant Potatoes I am always amazed at how many great things you can make with potatoes. My favorites list includes Pommes Anna, potato croquettes, and, of course, french fries. There are so many that we needed a good potato recipe round up page. What is even more...

With a pretty steady year-round crop of avocados from Mexico, along with our domestic supply in California, most of us in the US can enjoy delicious in season avocados year round. How great is that? In the summer, when light pastas, cold soups (like our famous...

Those Marylanders are onto something with their love of crab legs. Shrimp, mussels, and scallops are seafood staples during the summer, but if we're being honest, one of the best dishes you can cook during the summertime is crab legs. Crab legs come into season in...

There’s one thing that sends waves of terror through some home chefs, and it’s not what many observers would expect. Not the French sauces that require perfect temperature control and exquisite timing, nor the delicacies of China and Japan that call for rare and...

Today, on the Culinary Exchange, we thought we'd shake things up and focus on a more obscure food that you probably haven't heard of: black garlic. What is black garlic? Where does it come from? Why is it black? How do you cook with it? Those are all great questions...

One of the first cooking skills I learned as a college student, off on my own for the first time in my life, was how to cook eggs over easy. It might not be the healthiest of meals, but it's certainly a tasty option after waking up late on a Saturday after a good...

There are some great things to love about living in a city: access to cultural institutions like museums, art galleries and dance performances; a different restaurant to try out every night of the week; loads of transportation options. But one thing that people living in urban areas often miss out on is having the ability to partake in some serious outdoor grilling. And thus, the grill pan was born.

If there's one Fall favorite that everyone should know how to cook, it's corn on the cob. Around this time of year, corn on the cob is cheap, plentiful, and fresh and there's no reason you shouldn't be stocking up on it and cooking it every week. The only thing you...

We're big fans of breakfast. We're also big fans of brunch. Actually, we also love breakfast at dinnertime. I mean, what kind of person says no to a couple of strips of crispy bacon and some fluffy pancakes at any time of the day? Not us! In fact, we love pancakes...

If dairy doesn't really sit well with you, then finding a reliable substitute for milk is pretty much a must-have, since milk is a standard ingredient in a lot of different recipes. If you happen to be out of milk, you may be out of luck since most of the more common...

There are a few basics that every home chef should have in their repertoire – a solid burger; a simple bowl of pasta; a go-to dessert and french fries. That’s right – french fries. Fries aren’t just something that you slap on the side of a burger with dinner. They’re a meal in their own right. If you’ve ever been to Belgium for pomme frites or a New Jersey diner for disco fries, you know what we’re talking about.

Last week, we talked about good sugar substitutes when you're baking or just looking for something different to try. This week, we're going to talk about what you can substitute for corn syrup. Before we talk about what works as a substitute, let's talk about what...

Cans of tomato puree are one of those things that you always need to have in your pantry, but somehow always manage not to have. Luckily, if you manage to have some fresh tomatoes lying around, you can make your own pretty easily. In fact, make some extra and freeze...

We like to talk about food substitutes here, because it's inevitable that one day you'll be in the middle of cooking dinner and you'll realize that you don't have one of the key ingredients you need. And it sucks. That's why we've already covered substitutes for eggs,...

I just love avocados – creamy, rich with that subtle nutty flavor. I use them as often as I can as I think they add a lot to dishes and can be a dish unto themselves. They are easy to handle and readily available. As with onions and mango, the slicing of avocado is simple, but a little technique is needed to get the job done. It’s not fancy. The dicing and mashing of avocado is just as easy. The video and pictures below show you all you need to know about how to slice an avocado including how to choose an avocado that is ripe.

Sometimes you just need something quick and easy, and thus turn to frozen meats and seafood to whip up a quick meal. In all honesty, frozen shrimp isn't a bad thing to keep around. Because they're individually flash frozen, they defrost quickly and can last for ages...

Those Mediterraneans are on to something, with their fresh salads and drizzles of olive oil on everything. In fact, we could really learn a thing or two about life from them. Rich cheeses, olives, fresh fish, and a glass or two of wine each day? Sign us up! But back...

It was bound to happen. Inevitable, perhaps unavoidable. Yep, the How to Chop an Onion blog post. Sure, if you google "How To Chop an Onion" there are already about 15 million sites that have this information in some way, shape or form. This does not include all the...

When most people think of pasta, they usually go for the flour pasta varieties that come in a box and can be whipped into almost any type of traditional pasta dish. What you may not immediately think of are egg noodles, which are long, flat noodles and have a stronger...

There's a raging debate going on in the culinary world, and it revolves around a cousin of the onion - the green onion, that is. There seems to be two sides to the scallion debate: the first is those that think the green part is the only part you use. The second is...

If we had to choose one food dish that's the most common around the world, we'd had to choose the dumpling. You can find dumplings in pretty much every form in almost every country in the world. In fact, this article from CNN's travel section counted a full 30...

Here at the Culinary Exchange, we love funky little cooking gadgets, appliances, and food tech almost as much as we love creating new things in the kitchen. And although we’ve spent a good amount of time finding cool new kitchen gadgets, today we’re going to take it back to the basics and cover something that everyone should have in their kitchen: Mandoline.

There's a reason why mashed potatoes are a common occurrence on family dinner tables day in and day out. Potatoes are cheap and plentiful, and mashed potatoes are a quick, easy standby that you don't really need to give a lot of thought to. You boil them; you mash...

Kohlrabi, the slightly odd root vegetable born of the cabbage family is something that you probably haven't ever tried. And I only say that because it's not your typical grocery store fare. But, the rubbery stems that resemble broccoli stems can be chopped off and...

First thing's first: is white chocolate really chocolate? The answer is, no, not technically. In order for chocolate to be chocolate, it needs to include cocoa solids, and white chocolate has none. It does, however, have cocoa butter (which I guess is close enough to...

Fun fact: the artichoke is the only type of thistle you can eat. In fact, everyone should eat more artichokes as they’re delicious – especially when you mix them up with spinach and turn it into a hot dip (a la spinach artichoke). One thing that keeps a lot of people from buying more fresh artichokes is that they can be a little intimidating. And for good reason. Visually, they resemble tiny little bushes. And their “petals” that cover the interior portion of the artichoke are tough and hard to peel off, so it’s no surprise that most people opt out of grabbing an artichoke or two at the store. But this is big mistake, because artichoke is absolutely delicious and pretty healthy to boot.

If you thought heating water on a stovetop was as simple as it sounds, you were wrong. No, it's true. There are levels of heating water, and it's a little more complex than you might think. Heating water results in a boil, but what you may not know is that there are...

One of my favorite things to have around the house for snacking, an impromptu meal, or just as a garnish for another dish is granola. It also goes perfectly with yogurt (find out how to make yogurt here). Granola is basically a cold cereal made out of rolled oats and...

It's almost a cliche - the image of a person weeping while chopping an onion. Unfortunately, it's also true. Well, maybe not the sobbing part, but onions do stimulate the tear glands and can make people get the sniffles when they're prepping ingredients for their...

There are a few basic skills that every beginner chef should have, and one of those skills is dicing. Dicing is the process of cutting food into small cubes that around 1/4″ to 1/8″ in length. And once you get good at it, you’ll become a fast dicing cook in the kitchen. If you’ve ever watched chefs prep food by dicing it, then you know it can look like wizardry. But really, it’s just lots and lots of practice.

There's really nothing better than getting fresh herbs from the grocery store. They're fresh, and they make everything you cook taste just a little bit better. Consequently, few things are more frustrating than getting a fresh batch of herbs from the store only to...

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One of the things that we've talked about in some of our previous recipes is how to thicken sauces and soups, and what types of thickening agents you need in order to do so. But today we're going to take a step back a bit and talk about how a thickening agent works...

If you live in a place that has a strong Brazilian community, you may already be familiar with cassava - also known as yuca. It's a popular vegetable (technically a shrub) that grows mainly in South America and has a delicious root that's starchy like a potato. And...

It's easy to settle on heavy, unhealthy dishes when you're waiting out the winter months for a peek of Spring. Homemade mac and cheese, Italian pastas with thick sauces, and heavy stews. It makes sense, it's cold and dreary outside and so you want to cuddle up with...

Being familiar with the different cuts of meat that are out there is a really useful skill to have. For one, you look smart and informed at the butcher shop. It's also helpful to know when you're getting a good deal at the grocery store. Not all cuts of meat are...

Breaded chicken is a great alternative to fried chicken - and slightly healthier too. In fact, any kind of breaded meat is tasty. Just try a recipe for schnitzel - especially this herbed chicken schnitzel - as an example of how delicious breaded meat can be. Breading...

FYI...This post contains affiliate links for products we like. This means that if you click on a product link on this page, and then purchase the product, The Culinary Exchange will make a small amount of money from your purchase. However, we ONLY link to products...

If you're like a lot of people, you probably haven't even heard of the Jerusalem artichoke. The regular 'ole artichoke, sure. But a Jerusalem artichoke is something a bit different. While you might think the vegetable comes from Jerusalem, it's actually native to...

Today on The Culinary Exchange, we're back to the basics - of cutting, that is. Why? Because knowing how to properly cut your ingredients is an important part of improving your skills in the kitchen. And also, it'll impress your significant other because being handy...

By now, you should be a pro at making a roux (if you missed our earlier series about how to do this, you should check out this post and this post). While a roux is a common base for many types of sauces, it's also a great base for thick, creamy soups that are...

Yesterday, we explained what a roux is and why it's an important technique for cooking. Today, we're going to talk about the different types of roux that you can make and how to create each one. As a quick recap, a roux is a thickening agent that's used as a base for...

If you've spent enough time around a kitchen with a moderately competent chef, you've probably heard the term "roux". A roux is a simple mixture of a fat and flour heated up to make a paste, which serves as the base for most sauces and some soups. It helps thicken...

Some days, there's nothing better than to reach in the fridge and grab last night's pasta dinner and reheating it for lunch. But in reality, if you've ever tried to reheat cooked pasta, it doesn't always turn out so great. Unless you know the secret of how to reheat...

If there's one kitchen maintenance tip that we could give out, it would be to clean your cutting board. Seriously, clean your cutting board. It seems like something that shouldn't need to be reiterated, but surprisingly it does. Cutting boards take some serious abuse...

When you think of "pasta" you probably conjure up ideas of rolling hills in Italy and old Sicilian ladies rolling out dough and making pasta from scratch. What you probably don't think of are places like Japan or Thailand or Peru. But, ignoring places outside of Italy...

We've covered how to make pasta from scratch, how to cook pasta, and how to make sure your pasta doesn't stick. The only pasta basic we haven't covered so far? How to cook pasta sauce. And so, without further ado, here is a quick guide on how to cook a simple olive...

The most annoying part of cooking pasta is having it boil in the saucepan. only to have it clump up into a ball after you drain the water out - completely stuck together. But pasta doesn't always have to come out that way, and there's a simple trick for making pasta...

Keeping up with our pasta theme for the month of January, today we're going to talk about how to cook pasta. Now, pretty much anyone can follow the directions on the back of a Barilla box. But, there are tricks to get it to turn out as perfectly cooked pasta al dente....

Unless you've been to culinary school or are expertly trained in the art of cooking, you may not realize that there's a right way and a wrong way to measure ingredients. And that's especially true for dry ingredients. Don't worry - it's not rocket science and it's...

Before we get really deep into the pasta recipes, there's still a few basics that you'll need to master. We've already talked about how to get going with garlic - namely, how to peel it. Of course, this is important since garlic is almost universally used in pasta, as...

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If you haven't yet stocked up on some black eyed peas for the upcoming New Year celebration, you'd better hurry up. Black eyed peas on New Years day are about as traditional as a champagne toast at midnight. And while most people know about black eyed peas as an...

Eggnog is almost synonymous with Christmas time. It's a seasonal drink and you only manage to find it in supermarkets sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is a shame because it's such a tasty beverage. Usually made from a basic combination of eggs, milk,...

Shortbread isn't the only Christmas cookie in town this year. Nope, not by a long shot. You can't forget about the other holiday cookie favorite: gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies can be shaped into little dancing men or even houses, but either way, they're a...

Contrary to how grocery shopping is done in parts of Europe, where you buy fresh meat and vegetables every few days to be eaten quickly, in the U.S. it's often more common to buy meat in bulk and freeze it until you need it. Freshness aside, it's not a bad idea and...

If chestnuts aren't a sign of the holidays, then surely cranberries would be. Cranberries become a staple in the grocery store around the holidays, but sadly most people forget about them during the rest of the year, which is a shame. Cranberries are tasty, healthy...

Holiday baking. The thought can strike fear into the heart of even the most seasoned kitchen warriors. Whether it's attending holiday parties, hosting Christmas dinners, or surprising coworkers with some holiday treats, the holidays seem to require an almost unending...

If you've picked up a cookbook any time recently, you've probably noticed a lot of baking recipes asking specifically for softened butter. Often, people will throw a stick of butter into the microwave and heat it up quickly, rather than take a few extra minutes to do...

Well, you made it through the Thanksgiving chaos and arrived safely on the other side. And if you're like most people, that means you have a mass of Thanksgiving leftovers that you have no idea what to do with. Fortunately for you, those leftovers won't be a problem...

Lemon is used in all sorts of recipes, from salad dressings to muffins, but what do you do when you run out of lemon juice? Luckily, there are a couple of tried and true tricks that will work like a charm when you need a lemon juice substitute in a pinch. Keep in...

More so than any other time of the year, November and December is filled with holiday traveling. And if you have kids, that means keeping them satisfied and full through hours and hours of plane, train, and car travel. One thing that can help you keep your sanity is...

Chicken, pork chops, steak, and fish can get a little old - even when you're swapping them out regularly for dinner ideas. If you've run out of ideas for dinner meats, you only need to venture as far as duck to get something that's delicious, easy to cook, and...

Sometimes you just get a hankering for Southern cooking. And when that craving hits, nothing is better than whipping up a bowl of hot grits. Grits are a way of life in the Southern states of the U.S. In fact, they're eaten for breakfast along with eggs and bacon, and...

Any time you head into the kitchen to embark on a baking frenzy, there's one ingredient that you'll undoubtedly need and that's brown sugar. And if you're anything like us, the moment you realize you need brown sugar is also the moment you realize you're out of brown...

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with friends and family around the kitchen table, enjoying good food and good times. But not everyone is as fortunate, and while it's great to reflect on the things and people we're thankful for this upcoming holiday, we also want to...

If you've ever come across a Japanese eggplant in the supermarket, you've probably stopped and stared for a moment. As far as fresh produce goes, it's a pretty stunning vegetable. It's deep purple color and long, slender shape can be eye-catching. Don't believe us?...

We're back to talking about substitutes, because there's nothing worse than getting halfway through a recipe and realizing you're out of an ingredient. Earlier this month, we talked about what to use as a substitute for eggs. Today, we're going to talk about baking...

Thanksgiving is chock full of food traditions, from roasting a turkey to serving squash and cranberry sauce on the sides. Thanksgiving food traditions are about as American as apple - er, pumpkin - pie. But not all Thanksgiving traditions fall within what most people...

Garbanzo beans, or as they're also commonly known, chickpeas, are legumes that originated in the Middle East. Some people have dated them back 7,500 years, making them one of the oldest known types of legumes to have been cultivated and eaten by humans. They come in...

We've still got a few weeks before Halloween hits, so you've got plenty of time to stock up on Halloween sweets for trick or treaters. If, however, you forget to prepare and end up scrambling for last-minute candy, try one of these halloween treats that can easily be...

If you've ever been to a sushi joint, you've no doubt tried out some of their edamame - a tasty little snack of steamed or boiled soybean pods that are then served with sauce. They're delicious, extremely healthy, and are actually common cuisine in quite a few...

A good chef will always tell you to watch the amount of salt you add to a dish you're cooking. Despite those old wives tales about potato slices soaking up salt (which don't actually work), there actually isn't a good way to remove excess salt from over salted food....

Chocolate Mocha Cookies From Scratch I am a cookie lover. No, cookies are not as good as cake, pie or doughnuts. but they have their place. You can create great cookies from scratch without too much effort, too. This makes it totally possible to just whip up a batch...

Forget Thanksgiving - Halloween is the real start of pumpkin season. Whether you're using them for Fall seasonal decor or carving them up with your kids as a jack-o-lantern, you're bound to have some pumpkin leftover. This year, instead of just throwing it out, put it...

We've all been there; you're prepping in the kitchen, mixing up ingredients, when you realize it - you're out of eggs. The worst is when it's too late to run out to the store for more provisions. But really, there's almost never a time when you can't find at least...

Football season is in full effect - not to mention the other futbol season - and if you're like the millions of sports fans across the world, you're probably gearing up for some game nights in front of the TV. And everyone knows that nothing goes better with sports...

Lentils are year-round staples that should be in your pantry every month of the year. Why? For a few reasons, actually. Lentils are cheap; they store well; they're easy to cook; they go with almost every type of food. Today, we're going to specifically talk about...

How To Cook Chicken Legs I have already said that I think chicken breasts are the tofu of the meat world. There is lots you can do to make them tasty, but they just are not on the top of the list of great eats, ok eats sure, but great, no. A few steps up on the list...

When you think about delicious Fall food foods, if you're like most people your mind probably wanders to Fall veggies like butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes. But keep in mind, with Fall vegetables comes Fall fruits, and they can make the perfect...

Heading into the Fall season isn't really known as the best time for planting and growing tomatoes. But with a little ingenuity and some large windows that let in good sunlight, you can have your tomatoes year-round. In fact, growing tomato plants inside your home can...

How To Make Buttermilk Let's be clear from the start, it's buttermilk we want. Not a substitution for buttermilk like when we find ourselves in one of those "Kitchen Pinches". You know, when the recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of buttermilk and we neglected to buy it at...

How To Cook Corn Summer is dwindling. The taste of that sweet corn is but a memory in my mouth. When I am on the farm, the sweet corn planting has been staggered so that the harvest lasts as long into August as possible. There is plenty and not a day goes by that the...

Coffee in America is about as ubiquitous as hot dogs and apple pie. In fact, we'd guess that you'd be pretty hard pressed to find a home in most places that doesn't prominently feature a coffee machine in the kitchen. Just to be sure, we did a little research and it...

We've been on a squash kick lately, whether it's talking about butternut squash or dishing up dinner ideas for spaghetti squash, you can't really go wrong with a root vegetable when the temperature starts to dip. One of the things we really love about squash - and...

If you want a meal that will fill you up, is pretty healthy, and can provide plenty of tasty leftovers, then pick up a whole chicken at your local grocery store and get ready to roast that bird! Roasting a chicken is one of those things that seems like a lot more work...

With winter weather, comes winter produce. That means loads of kale, brussels sprouts, chard, pumpkin, and squash. And one of our favorite types of squash to cook in the Fall is butternut squash. There's a reason this squash earned the name "butternut" and it's rich...

If you missed your chance in the Spring to jump on the CSA bandwagon, you might just be getting a second chance later this month. Around mid-to-late Fall, local farms start signing up members for their winter CSAs. What's a CSA, you might ask? Great question! CSA...

In less than a month, people all over the world will start preparing for Oktoberfest, which kicks off on September 19th in Munich, Germany. But you don't have to travel across the Atlantic to get in on some Oktoberfest fun. If you live in the States, though, no...

This week, I'm with my family visiting my wife's family farm. That's right - a real, life farm filled with wildlife, delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, and wild herbs. And since today is the day we focus on how to cook a common dish, I decided to focus on the...

Once you get a groove going in the kitchen, one thing you'll realize quickly is that cooking at home means you go through a decent amount of herbs. And the only thing better than having fresh herbs around is having an unending supply of fresh herbs right inside your...

If you aren't eating carrots regularly, you're missing out on both a tasty side dish and excellent ingredient, and a great source of vitamin A. In fact, carrots can be used in so many different ways, they're one of the most versatile vegetables available. They work...

Hacking has become part of the popular culture, and the term has taken on a slightly different meaning from the idea of a hardened computer geek coding his way into your computer to steal your data. These days, hacking more often than not means finding a way to...

Pumpkin seeds (also known as pepita in Spanish culture) are the tasty flat seeds that you find inside of a pumpkin. You've probably scooped a bunch of them out when you were carving a pumpkin with your family, but what you may not have done were eat them. And that's a...

If you're cooking at home, it's likely that you're dishing up just as many food safety hazards as you are tasty dishes. That's because everything from how you shop for perishables to how you wipe down a cutting board while prepping dinner can affect food safety, and...

Getting Familiar With Bakeware Bakeware is the foundation of making tasty treats. Sure, there would be no lovin' from the oven without regard to ingredients and the very careful measurement of said ingredients, but bakeware is very important. One of the most important...

Sometimes all you need is a great, big juicy piece of pork. And what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think a pork dinner? Pork chops, of course! And once you learn how to prep and cook pork chops, you'll have a solid dinner standby that's delicious and...

If you're like most people, you've heard of most types of grains. Be it white rice, brown rice, quinoa, or couscous, you're probably well-versed in the basic grains. But you may not be as familiar with the grandfather of all grains: farro. Farro is one of the oldest...

Nothing says summer better than a picnic. In fact, there's almost nothing as pleasant as packing up a fresh lunch and heading out to the park or the countryside. But the key to having a great picnic experience is being prepared. Being prepared with the tools and...

Fighting Food Waste and Leftover Chicken Recipes This week on The Culinary Exchange we have focused on food waste. Our first post on the subject is a bit shocking as the statistics show that we waste an immense amount of food. It is quite a shame that we waste so...

All week, we've been talking about food waste: the raw numbers, where food waste is happening, and what to do about it. We all contribute to food waste - whether consciously or unconsciously - and it's a problem that we can each tackle in our little corner of the...

Yesterday, we talked about how much food waste actually happens around the world, and shared some pretty shocking food waste statistics. They say knowing is half the battle, but the other half is figuring out what you're going to do about it. And what better place to...